<p>Do they have an 7-8 year combined program deal for your MD?</p>
<p>It is stupid to do a 7-8 program because most of the affiliate med schools are less known and 8 yrs is how long it will take to get a BS and MD anyone. When you go to college your r suppose to explore different areas and concentrations. Medical School is a big committment for it will affect ur future plans. So just go to good college and then a great medical school and u will be fine. Plus 7yrs what is one more year. Oh BTW, Yale doesnt have those programs</p>
<p>As mentioned above, Yale doesn’t have a 7 or 8-year combined degree program. I, however, beg to differ with juniorinthefall about the value of an accelerated degree program.</p>
<p>“One more year” is about $44,000 right now at Yale, which means that if you know that you want to become a physician, an accelerated degree program may be the best option for you. After getting your bachelor’s in 3 years or so in a 7-year program, you will have the opportunity to either stay in the program or pursue your MD elsewhere. If you’re in a nice program like HPME at Northwestern, then you’ll already have guaranteed admission to a great medical school, which offers <em>great</em> peace of mind.</p>
<p>That said, you should only consider these accelerated programs if you’ve gotten enough experience in medicine to know that it’s the right field for you! You’ll have opportunities to change your mind, but you’ll lose a lot of flexibility if you enroll in a 7-year program and then decide to pursue something else. (Well, such as the choice to go to Yale, hehe.)</p>
<p>what I really like is that Yale med school doesnt consider grades when deciding admission</p>
<p>lol, I highly doubt that. It’s true that they don’t have a GPA/MCAT cutoff for their secondary application, but for a med school not to consider grades, which in general is the most important factor in admissions, is pretty far-fetched. Where’d you get that info?</p>
<p>Yale med weighs a combination of grades, MCAT’s, EC’s, and interview score for admission. I think sempitern was referring to the fact that during the first two years, yale med does not give out grades, nor do the tests that students take count (they are for self-evaluation). This “ideal” system of self direction sounds great, but in practice, yale med students are at a major disadvantage when taking step I of the USMLE and thus average quite a bit lower than their peers at other top medical schools. That said, they still match incredibly well. Its a great medical school, one of the best.</p>
<p>… and I don’t believe that combined BS/MD programs are a good idea. I can think of 20-30 students I knew who started pre-med and ended up in different fields. I’ve posted my scathing disdain for these programs before. Avoid them.</p>
<p>If you’re referring to the lack of flexibility in combined programs, there are certain programs that are not binding, Brown PLME being one of them. If someone wanted to, they could even go to law school and at the same time hold a spot in Brown med. That spot will also stay with you as a safety if you apply out to other med schools. While most combined programs are not quite that flexible, I think most of them are non-binding…that is, someone could drop out if they wanted to pursue a different field.</p>
<p>I definitely disagree with juniorinthefall about his post - there are quite a few medical programs affiliated with excellent medical schools (Rice University/Baylor Med, Northwestern/Feinberg, Rochester/Rochester all have medical schools in the top 25). Plus, as juniorinthefall points out, college is the time to explore different areas - and the combined program grants students just this opportunity. Guaranteed acceptance to medical school encourages students to take risks normal, GPA concerned pre-med students might not. </p>
<p>Most combined programs are non-binding (in that if you change your mind about medicine, you are free to leave the program) and you most allow students to apply out to other medical schools if they wish. So, as far as flexibility goes, the programs aren’t restraining at all - in fact, most programs stress academic flexibility incredibly. To be fair, several do have predetermined tracks that combined program students much take.</p>
<p>All in all, the programs may not be the best option for everybody, but they certainly are a viable, credible, and possibly advantageous route to medical school for committed students.</p>